1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a vacuum cleaner. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a cyclone dust-separating apparatus of a vacuum cleaner, which draws in an external air and then separates dust or dirt therefrom.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a cyclone dust-separating apparatus provided in a vacuum cleaner is an apparatus, which whirls air laden with dirt or dust and thus separates the dirt or dust therefrom. Such a cyclone dust-separating apparatus has been recently widely used because it can be semi-permanently used without any inconvenience of frequently replacing dust bags.
The cyclone dust-separating apparatus usually includes a cyclone unit to make drawn-in air into a whirling current and thus to separate dust or dirt from the drawn-in air, an inflow pipe to guide the drawn-in air to flow into the cyclone unit in a tangential direction thereof, and a dust collecting unit to collect and store the separated dust or dirt therein. The cyclone dust-separating apparatus as described above separates all of large dust or dirt, medium dust or dirt, and minute dust or dirt from the drawn-in air at once. Accordingly, relatively large and heavy dust or dirt can be easily filtered, but relatively minute dust or dirt, such as particles, are apt to be discharged through an outflow pipe as mixed with the air. As a result, the conventional cyclone dust-separating apparatus presents a problem that a dust-separating efficiency is deteriorated.
To address the problem as described above, recently, a cyclone dust-separating apparatus in which a filter unit is installed between a cyclone unit and an outflow pipe has been proposed and used. Since such a cyclone dust-separating apparatus does not discharge air through the outflow pipe directly after dust or dirt is separated from the air by the cyclone unit, but secondly filters minute dust or dirt from the air through the filter unit, it can separate even the minute dust or dirt, such as particles or the like. As a result, a dust separating efficiency is improved. However, this cyclone dust-separating apparatus may present a problem that if the filter unit is choked due to the minute dust or dirt accumulated therein, a suction force is deteriorated and thereby the dust separating efficiency is reduced. Accordingly, there is a need for a user to carry out a troublesome task of disassembling the cyclone dust-separating apparatus to clean the filter unit on occasion.
To address the problems as described above, a vacuum cleaner having a filter cleaning system capable of automatically cleaning a filter is actively developing.
As an example of such a vacuum cleaner, a vacuum cleaner having a filter cleaning system in which a rotation bar with a flap coming in contact with a filter is installed in the vicinity of a filter unit is disclosed in U.S. Patent publication 2007-17064. The filter cleaning system of the vacuum cleaner rotates the rotation bar with a motor to brush off dust or dirt from the filter. Since this vacuum cleaner can automatically clean the filter, there is no need for the user to carry out the troublesome task of disassembling the cyclone dust-separating apparatus to clean the filter unit on occasion. However, since the rotation bar is driven by the motor, a problem occurs, in that fabrication costs are increased.
As another example, an electric cleaner, which brushes off dust or dirt from a dust bag by using external air, is disclosed in Japanese patent publication 2006-95062. In the electric cleaner, as a filter, a cyclone dust separating apparatus is not used, but the dust bag is used. Also, the electric cleaner rotates a fan by using the external air drawn in through a member for selectively drawing in the external air, and transmits a rotating force of the fan to a rapping plate through gears to brush off the dust or dirt from the dust bag. However, in the dust bag rapping mode, the electric cleaner as described above does not block or close an air passage that the external air moves through the dust bag from a suction nozzle. Accordingly, a suction force of a suction motor is divided into two air passages, and as a result, a cleaning efficiency for the dust bag is deteriorated.